He was the actor I wanted to play this role. It was very much designed around him. It drew on his Native American heritage and his ties to and love of the Southwest. Voorhees emphasized that Kilmer had really wanted to participate in the filming, but was just going through a really, really tough time medically, and he couldn't do it.
He was the actor I wanted to play this role. It drew on his Native American heritage and his ties to and love of the Southwest. But Kilmer was unable to make it to set due to his battle with throat cancer. The film-maker is working in conjunction with the late actor's estate and his daughter, Mercedes, to bring Kilmer back to life with state-of-the-art, generative AI.